Greg Hinz On Politics

Mayor gives more details on his plan to boost Chicago exports

Mayor Rahm Emanuel today offered a few more details on how to reach his longtime goal of doubling Chicago exports in five years, specifically exports of small and mid-sized firms.

But some key details still are missing, and many of the things Mr. Emanuel talked about have already come out in other contexts.

In a speech to the Export-Import Bank in Washington, Mr. Emanuel said he's directed World Business Chicago, the city's development arm, to work with Chicago's 28 sister-city committees to develop an export plan specific to each.

The plans must include an analysis of key industry sectors and demand opportunities in sister cities from Paris to Casablanca to Shanghai, and will be required in four months.

Mr. Emanuel also pledged to work closely with the Export-Import Bank, a federal agency that finances U.S. sales abroad that some Washington Republicans recently have attacked as an unneeded corporate subsidy.

The mayor said the bank will help train city staff and conduct joint outreach campaigns and local conferences.

Mr. Emanuel also noted his ongoing efforts to break down bureaucratic red tape in city government — most of those specifics have not yet been announced — to establish an infrastructure bank here and to remake City Colleges of Chicago into a more vocational institution.

Chicago, according to the mayor, is the third-largest metro area in the country but only the seventh-largest exporter. Doubling exports from small- and mid-sized companies would create nearly 100,000 new jobs, most of them above-average in pay, he said.